A prominent football agent in England, Aidy Ward used Manchester City and England international, Raheem Sterling to allegedly convince underage players to sign up for his agency, Colossal Sports Management.
In the United Kingdom, it is not allowed for football agents to approach players below the age of 16 nor reach out to their families to sign them.
Also, it is against the rules of the Football Association for football agents or clubs to pay money for the services of players in academies before the year of their 16th birthday.
Despite the knowledge of these rules, a BBC report indicted Aidy Ward of going about convincing underage aspiring players and their families to sign under him.
To make matters worse for him, he reportedly deceived Raheem Sterling into talking to the underage footballers to make the negotiations easier.
Recall that Aidy Ward used to be the football agent of Raheem Sterling. They worked together for years and even gave the Manchester City winger a stake in his football management company.
Despite the cordial relationship that existed between them, Sterling decided to drop the football agent last season for no known reason.
The setback of losing the biggest name under his management company did not stop Aidy Ward to continue pushing to get more underage players on his roster.
According to a BBC report, Raheem Sterling never knew that Aidy Ward was using him to convince underage players to sign under his management company.
A lawyer of the football star reportedly revealed that Ward had asked the footballer to talk to aspiring players a couple of times. On the contrary, the lawyer noted that the footballer granted Ward’s requests because he saw it as a responsibility since he is an England international.
The report claimed that seven parents of the underage players Ward tried to sign have disclosed that they had contacts with the embattled agent.
Also, the report revealed that Aidy Ward targeted aspiring players who are under the care of single mothers to make the negotiations easier for him.
Foday Nabay, a 23-year-old former youth player told the BBC that Ward approached him when he was 12-year-old. At that time, the Sierra Leone-born footballer was a member of England’s under-16 squad. He was also a prominent member of Birmingham City’s youth academy.
Ward reportedly influenced him to leave Birmingham for Fulham against the will of the footballer. He eventually yielded to Ward’s directive and joined Fulham football academy at 14-year-old.
Fulham reportedly paid Ward £120,000 for Nabay’s transfer. But Fulham told BBC that they didn’t pay nor agreed to pay the football agent for the services of any player.
Unfortunately for the career of Foday Nabay, Fulham realized he was not good enough and decided to drop him in 2018 when he was 19-year-old.
“I was in my room 24/7, didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want to do anything. I was really not in a good place,” Nabay who is currently playing for Sheffield FC told BBC.
At the time of publishing this report, the English FA was said to be investigating the allegation that Aidy Ward breached the FA rules by signing underaged players.
Also, Aidy Ward is yet to publicly react to the allegation against him. He reportedly said he would not comment since the FA was already investigating the allegations.
